Machine for dyeing fabrics.



PATENTED DBO. 19, 1905. J. GADGENB. MACHINE FOR DYEING FABRICS.

APPLICATION FILED OGT.24.1904.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 19, 1905.

Application filed October 24. 1904. Serial No. 229,704:-

fo all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JACQUES CADenNn, a citizen of France, residing atZurich, in the canton of Zurich, Republic of Switzerland, (whosepost-office address is 39 Thalgasse, Zurich,) have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Machinery Used in Dyeing Fabrics in thePiece; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

I have applied for patent in France on October 1, 1904; in Great Britainon October 5, 1904.

In the industry of dyeing in the piece there are numerous machines used;but all are more orless unsatisfactory. The old system, which consistedin passing the piece of material gutlike through a dye-vat by means of ahandwinch, now almost universally discarded,was apt to produce folds inthe material which were practically irreparable.

The well-known Oarron machine, inwhich the winch is driven mechanically,is an advance upon the hand-machine but it has the defect that there isalways a considerable length of material exposed outside the dye, whichlength carries a large quantity of dye, and thereby produces a coolingeffect upon the bath as a whole and necessitates frequent reheatings,and consequently loss of steam. The well-known gigger or jiggerdyeing-machine, now much in use, is a decided advance upon itspredecessors; but even this machine has the defect that the passage ofthe material through the liquid is so short that the material is notalways sufliciently impregnated with color, and thus necessitates toomany passes or repasses. Again, during the passage folds or creases areapt to be produced, which it is not always possible to eliminate bysubsequent dressing operations.

The most important objection to the jigger machine is that the weftoften bends in the middle of the piece, which is a grave de' feet, aboveall for umbrella materials. Jiggers are more particularly employed inestablishments where pure cotton or zanella stuffs or materials aretreated, because it is important that the textures treated in thisapparatus should be sufliciently resisting. Attempts have been made toadopt jiggers for dyeing pure silk or half-silk by'the piece, butwithout success, the abandonment being always due to the unfortunatefolds or breakages, which, although of less consequence in cottonmaterials, are disastrous in silk.

Another system recently adopted necessitates the use of two tanks orvats at different levels, one being at a considerable height above theother. The upper vat communicates with the lower one by means ofperforated tubes, which spray the material in proportion as it unwindsfrom rollers, it being important that the dye-bath prepared in the uppervat may have its strength carefully adjusted beforehand with accuracy,so that it requires no further attention when the work is once started.This entails great skill on the part of the operators; Apart from thisdefect and that of the cost there is the disadvantage that thetemperature and pressure of the bath gradually decrease during Working,the penetration of the material consequently decreasing in proportion,thus affecting the uniformity of the dyeing.

The object of the present invention is to provide a simple andcomparatively inexpensive machine in which the above-men tioned defectsare absent. This machine is of substantial construction to be able todye various widths of materials-such as fabrics of pure cotton, wool,orzanellabut at the same time its parts have sufficient flexibility tobe able to deal with all silk articles, from the most inferior up to thebest quality. From practical experiment it has been conclusively provedthat the dyeing obtained is uniform from one end to the other of thepieces, and in textures where the silk is undulating it does away withthe doubling of the pieces, breakages, and bleachings, and the silkemerges with a maximum of shine or gloss.

Contrary to other systems for dyeing material in the piece, consistingin causing the stufl or material to circulate in the bath by the aid ofsmall internal guide-rollers and of external delivery and receivingrollers of small diameter, the principle of the present system is tocause the stuff or material to travel by means of two cylinders of largediameter moving in the vat, but out of the bath or liquid. The stuff ormaterial wi iding from and unwind ing onto the cylinders during itspassage takes up an approximately horizontal position in the bath.

To effect dyeing, short baths are formed, so that the pieces when theyare wound on the cylinders may be always above the bath in order thatthe stuff makes contact with the dyeing-bath only when the latter in itsIIO travel follows an almost horizontal line, and as in this positionthe stuff offers a great surface in the dyeing-bath the followingeffects are attained: first, rapid dyeing of great uniformity withoutthe least trace of darker tone on the edges of the pieces; second, thematerial fully utilizes the whole of the coloring-matter and the threadof the stufi is always straight third, a considerable length of materialmay be dyed without the accumulalated material on the cylinders formingtoo great a thickness, (a very essential point fourth, much steam issaved in avoiding reheats.

When the pieces have been sufficiently impregnated with color, they maybe washed and their colors heightened by filling the vat with water andcausing the cylinders to move until complete rinsing is effected. Theseoperations are the more active, as the cylinders work right in thewashing or color-heightening water. \Vhen all the operations of dyeingare finished, the pieces are wound on an apparatus fixed to one end ofthe vat, such apparatus acting as a drier or wringer.

The accompanying drawings represent, by way of example, one form of theinvention.

Figure 1 is a front view, and Fig. 2 a rear view.

The machine comprises a rectangular dyeing-vat 1, fitted with two largecylinders 2 and 3, which may be made of metal or of Wood. -The cylinders2 111d 3 are provided with toothed bevel-wheels 4 and 5, respectively.

6 is the driving-shaft, carrying a pulley 7 and three bevel-pinions 8,9, and 10, capable of sliding longitudinally on the shaft 6. The pinions8 and 9 are intended to engage with the wheels 4 and 5 and the pinion 10with a bevel-wheel 11 in one with a toothed wheel 12. This wheel gearswith a toothed wheel 13, fixed on the shaft of a roller 14, upon whichthe winding-roller 15 freelyrests Two Weighted levers 16 rest upon theaxle of the roller 15, so as to press the roller against the roller 14,but in such a manner as to allow the roller 15 to recede from the roller14 correspondingly as the stufi or material winds on the latter.

A lever 17, mounted on a pivot 18, is connected by the medium of arms 19and 20 to two levers 21 and 22, intended to axially displace the pinions8 and 9. When the lever 17 is vertical, the cylinders do not turn; butif this lever is turned to the right the wheels 9 5 drive the cylinder3, which carries with it the loose left-hand cylinder 2. To prevent thisloose cylinder rotating too quickly, a brake-band 23 is applied at thesame time that the right-hand cylinder 3 is engaged. The band-brake 23is worked by the lever 17 arms 20 and 24, lever 25, shaft 26, disk 27,and arm 28. The brake bears upon a pulley 29 'upon the shaft of theleft-hand cylinder,

Fig. 1, which is thus retarded in order that the stuff or material underlight tension may be wound on regularly and without folds. When theright-hand cylinder has received the whole of the piece of stuff, thelever 17 is thrown over to the left, so that the wheels 8 4 work theleft-hand cylinder 2, which in turn rotates in a reverse direction, andso on until the shade is completely obtained. When the cylinder 2 isdriven, a similar brake 23 acts upon a pulley 29, fixed on the shaft ofthe cylinder 3.

Suitable means are provided for attaching the extremities of the stuffto the cylinders 2 and 3.

When the work is finished, the pieces wind on the free roller 15, whichrests against the fixed roller 14, which is driven bythe wheels 10 1 1,one of which,10, may be moved axially by means of the lever 30.

The two weighted levers 16 rest upon the axle of the free roller in sucha manner that as the stuff winds onto the roller 15 it is wrung orpreliminarily dried in order. It may be then carried either to the drierproper or subjected to any other manipulation, if necessary. This verysimple apparatus acting as a wringer or preliminary drier is fixed toone end of the vat 1, where also the original roll of material to bedyed is placed or supported.

The workman only having to watch over the automatic movement from leftto right, and vice versa, it will be seen that he can easily work twomachines. The coloring materials are introduced into the bath in theordinary manner. As this machine is extremely useful to obtain perfectbleachings by the use of peroxid of soda, it is obvious that whenintended for this use all metal should be excluded and wooden cylindersbe employed.

Having now particularly described and as certained the nature of my saidinvention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare thatwhat I claim is 1. In a machine for dyeing material in the piece, thecombination of a dye-vat, revoluble cylinders arranged in the vat, adriving element, a controller, a means, controlled by said controller,for connecting and disconnecting each of said cylinders with saiddriving element and simultaneously braking the cylinder which isdisconnected, substantially as described.

2. In a machine for dyeing material in the piece, the combination of adyevat, a controller, revoluble cylinders arranged in the vat, a drivingelement, separate brakes for said cylinder, and means, comprising asystem of levers and controlled by said controller, for connectingeither of said cylinders with the driving element and applying the brake'-"on the other cylinder, interchangeably, substantially as described.

3. In a machine for dyeing material in the piece, the combination of adye-vat, revoluble cylinders arranged in the dyevat with their axessubstantially parallel and standing in substantially a horizontal plane,said cylinders having together a horizontal dimension transverse oftheir axes which approximates the dimension of the vat from one end wallto the opposite end wall thereof, means for driving the cylindersalternately, and means for guiding the material through the vat belowthe surface-level of the bath in a substantially straight and horizontalline and for a relatively long distance, substantially as described.

4. In a machine for dyeing material in the piece, the combination of adye-vat, revoluble cylinders arranged in the dye-vat with their axessubstantially parallel and standing J AOQUES OADGENE.

Vitnesses HERMANN KIRoHI-IOFER, A. LIEBERKNEOHT.

